The Diamondbacks couldn’t convince the Chicago White Sox to part with Chris Sale, couldn’t find a match with the Chicago Cubs for Jeff Samardzija and couldn’t close a deal with free-agent Masahiro Tanaka.

With every miss on a frontline starting pitcher during the off-season, the pressure seemed to build on top prospect Archie Bradley, his importance to the Diamondbacks’ success in 2014 growing ever larger.

Bradley feels that pressure. And he’s welcoming it with open arms.

“I heard a quote, ‘If you face the music, the music goes away,’ ” Bradley said. “You embrace it. You take it on and you face it. You don’t back away from it.”

Bradley will be among the pitchers and catchers officially reporting to Salt River Fields Thursday for the start of spring training, and he’ll arrive with a chance to win a spot in the starting rotation.

Regarded as arguably the best pitching prospect in baseball, Bradley will be competing with Randall Delgado, among others, for the No. 5 spot.

However, the Diamondbacks’ continued pursuit of a starter still might take Bradley out of the running. A USA Today report on Wednesday listed the Diamondbacks as “slight favorites” ahead of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Baltimore Orioles to sign free-agent right-hander Bronson Arroyo.

Arroyo, 37, has been a 200-inning workhorse for the past decade, most of it spent with the Cincinnati Reds, and his addition would help replenish the pitching depth in the Diamondbacks’ organization.

Barring any additions, all eyes will be on Bradley. Though only 21, he has been living with the pressure and attention for years. A two-sport star in high school — he had committed to play quarterback at Oklahoma before deciding on baseball — he says scouts started coming around after his eighth-grade year.

After the Diamondbacks took him seventh overall in the 2011 draft, he could feel everyone watching at instructional league and in his first spring training. Expectations were high then as they are now, but he says his own expectations are higher.

“I think I put more pressure and expectations on myself than what (others) do,” he said.

Bradley is easygoing but highly confident.

A fast talker, he has a way of conveying that confidence while not making a big deal out of it, of sounding simultaneously humble and self-assured.

He doesn’t hesitate to say he’s ready for the majors but is quick to point out the areas of his game that need work.

Bradley posted an impressive 1.84 ERA in 152 innings between High-A Visalia and Double-A Mobile last season, lowering his walk rate while continuing to overpower hitters with his mid-to-upper 90s fastball and swing-and-miss curveball.

He says he still needs to improve his fastball command and refine his change-up.

Knowing the opportunity he’d have in spring training, he began throwing earlier than normal in the off-season, all the while tracking the Diamondbacks’ attempts to add starting pitching.

He admits he was selfishly glad the Diamondbacks did not land a frontline starter, allowing his hopes of making the team to live on, but he says he isn’t making that his goal since it’s something he can’t control.

“My goal isn’t to win the fifth spot,” he said, “it’s to make them, every day when they go into meetings, have to think, ‘Hey, he’s doing everything he can. He’s putting pressure on us.’ ”

The Diamondbacks are expecting nothing less.

“He has no fear of competition,” Diamondbacks General Manager Kevin Towers said. “It’s just another challenge. To me, he’s met every challenge that we’ve thrown his way. I find it hard to believe that he could fail. I think he’s looking forward to this opportunity. He just needs the experience.

“I don’t think he will go about things any different facing big-league hitters than he did when he was in (Low-A) South Bend, Visalia and Mobile. He’s just got a way about him. For him it’s just a matter of time. It’s not that he’s pushing the issue. He’s just going, ‘I’ve got to make it tough for them and they’re going to see what I’m about and they’re going to like what they see.’ ”

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